The Pan-African Parliament (PAP) President H.E Chief Fortune Charumbira has urged the PAP Committees, Regional Caucuses, Women and Youth Caucuses to adopt “SMART Principle” in developing Committee Workplans.
He was speaking at the currently ongoing sitting of the Permanent Committees of the sixth Parliament of the PAP in Midrand, South Africa, where Committees, Women and Youth Caucuses Chairpersons made Presentations on their Workplans and expected results of Committee sittings.
The sitting is being held under the African Union Theme of the Year for 2023, “The Year of AFCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area”.
Developed by George Doran, Arthur Miller and James Cunningham in their 1981 article aimed at ways of writing management goals and objectives, the acronym SMART means “Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-based”
“Our Committees, Youth and Women need to come up with specific goals and adopt a more effective planning process if we are to achieve our objectives,” said H.E Chief Charumbira while commenting and making his Presentation on “the mandate of the Permanent Committees and expected output from African legislators”.
“While devising plans, our teams need to focus on defining the evidence which will prove that you are making progress and reevaluate when necessary. In all that you do, you also need to make sure that you can reasonably accomplish your goals within a certain time frame.
“We don’t need a situation where we just implement activities for the sake of pushing time. Your goals should align with your values and long-term objectives. As continental legislators we need to set a realistic ambitious end-date for task prioritisation and motivation,” said H.E Chief Charumbira emphasising that Africa counts on the work of the PAP Committees.
H.E Chief Charumbira also challenged the Committees to work towards the harmonization or coordination of the laws in the AU Member States.
“As our committees, you should examine, discuss or express an opinion on any matter, either on its own initiative or at the request of the Assembly or other policy organs and make any recommendations it may deem fit relating to, inter alia, matters pertaining to the respect of human rights, the consolidation of democratic institutions and the culture of democracy, as well as the promotion of good governance and the rule of law.
“Always debate, express an opinion and make actionable recommendations on issues relevant to the people of Africa such as Poverty and Unemployment, Illicit Financial Flows, Climate Change, Food Security & Nutrition, Unconstitutional Changes of Government, Corruption, Terrorism and Unilateral sanctions impeding development in African countries,” he added.
The President further accentuated that the Committees must facilitate the effective implementation of the policies and objectives of the OAU/AEC, Agenda 2063, African Continental Free Trade Area, AU Shared Values, Flagship Projects: Inga Dam Project, Single African Air Transport Market and Facilitate attainment of AU Theme of the Year: “The Year of AFCTFTA: Accelerating the AFCFTA Implementation”.
